hoodlum
Americannoun
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a thug or gangster.
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a young street ruffian, especially one belonging to a gang.
noun
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a petty gangster or ruffian
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a lawless youth
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of hoodlum
1870–75, probably < dialectal German; compare Swabian derivatives of Hudel rag, e.g. hudelum disorderly, hudellam weak, slack Hudellump ( e ) rags, slovenly, careless person, and related words in other dialects
Explanation
Hoodlums are young people who are involved in crime or generally up to no good. A car full of hoodlums might drive down the street and smash mailboxes with a baseball bat. Hoodlums are into mean stuff like that. If you've ever seen a group of young people who look like trouble, you may have seen a group of hoodlums. Hoodlums are loud, aggressive, and violent. Hoodlums are part of gangs and commit crimes. If a young person robs a store or mugs someone, he’s a hoodlum. The word hoodlum has nothing to do with the hood on a sweatshirt. A hoodlum can also be called a gangster, thug, or toughie. Steer clear!
Vocabulary lists containing hoodlum
Number the Stars
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Novel Study: The Outsiders, Chapters 1–5
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All We Have Left
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Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
He agreed to make two pictures a year if given time off to act on Broadway, and he bought out his contract to produce “The Hoodlum Priest” independently.
From New York Times • Feb. 2, 2024
Duke's directing credits include "Deep Cover," "A Rage in Harlem," and "Hoodlum."
From Salon • Jul. 20, 2020
Pickford, pictured here on the set of Hoodlum in 1925, made more than 200 films "It's like finding an early song by George Gershwin, or an unpublished short story by Mark Twain."
From BBC • Sep. 25, 2013
Rival Hoodlum Barney Weiss apparently had dispatched his own welcoming party to greet Big Jim.
From Time Magazine Archive
Author of "Love Sonnets of a Hoodlum," 1902; "Rubaiyat of Omar Khayyam, Jr.,"
From The Best Short Stories of 1919 and the Yearbook of the American Short Story by O'Brien, Edward J. (Edward Joseph Harrington)
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
